


Hummingbird Heartbeat

by HungryLibrary



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddles, F/F, First posted to Tumblr, Fluff, mention of allura's mom, or my version of her anyway, sleepy space lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 13:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12255498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: Allura and Pidge cuddle.Allura worries about Pidge's strange alien heartbeat.Everything's okay though and it's just a quiet moment.





	Hummingbird Heartbeat

Cuddling with Pidge for the first time was wonderful.

The way her weight added to Allura's and helped them sink that much further into the bed, the wiry but solid warmth of her tucked against Allura's front, the steady rise and fall of her breathing and the fact that Pidge was here, safe and sound in her arms.

All in all, Allura would go as far as to say the moment was perfect... Except for...

"Pidge?"

Allura frowned and pressed her ear closer to the crook of Pidge's neck, listening worriedly.

Even considering that they were laying down and perhaps the most relaxed they'd been since the war began, the Paladin's heartbeat was just a tad too slow to be reassuring.

"Are you sure this is normal?"

A chuckle echoed back against her chest.

"Yep." Pidge confirmed, soothing tone buzzing at the edges with amusement. "One hundred percent normal. This is just how us Earthling hearts sound when we're chilling with our girlfriend."

Despite her lingering worry Allura couldn't help smiling.

She still thought the Earthing term for heartsworn was thoroughly inadequate, but the tender way it always left Pidge's lips more made up for the word itself.

Also, she was fairly sure she'd heard Pidge's heart skip a beat when she said it.

Closing her eyes Allura let the odd rhythm sink into her.

"It's just so slow." She breathed, deliberately tickling the back of Pidge neck so she snorted and squirmed playfully in Allura's arms. "I don't understand how I never noticed before."

"Probably because this is the first time we've gotten this close outside of sparring or a fight." Pidge said frankly. "My heart goes about a mile a minute whenever shit starts going down, and yours speeds up so much I can barely feel it."

The hand covering Allura's own pressed down gently, fingers curling to find the pulse at underside of her wrist. Pidge let out a thoughtful hum.

"Even right now it's beating like a hummingbird's wings. I keep thinking you're about to faint or something."

"If I do it won't be due to anything medical." Allura teased.

The corner of Pidge's mouth lifted mischievously. Twining their hands together she tugged them up to her chest and ducked her head. A tick later Allura felt the delicate brush of lips ghost across the underside of her wrist- and found herself blushing as the kiss made her own heartbeat spike into a giddy thrum, warmth running through her veins and spreading up her cheeks.

Burying her burning face in Pidge's shoulder she sighed contently, savoring the feeling.

"Tell me about hummingbirds."

"Hm?"

Allura didn't have to see Pidge's face to know her look had switched instantly from mischievous to thoughtful.

"Hummingbirds, huh..." Pidge considered the question seriously.

"Well, they're small flying pollinators that feed off of the nectar of Earth flowers, though some people put out feeders for them too. They have feathers and a narrow, thin beak- I guess they look a bit like Altean daskinnirs but without the poisonous spines- and they flap their wings so fast they they can hover in place."

She paused, leaving space in case Allura wanted to comment or ask for clarification.

Trying to picture the Earth creature in her mind's eye, Allura did manage to come up with several more questions. "Are they common on Earth?"

"In some places, yeah."

"What about where you lived?"

Allura knew of course that Pidge had tried to avoid the outdoors back before her bond with the Green Lion helped her appreciate plants a bit more. Still, hummingbirds sounded like the sort of creature most people would enjoy watching, if given a chance.

"We had a few at our old place. The Garrison is in the desert though, so there's nothing for them there."

The lack of wistfulness in Pidge's voice likely meant the Guardian of the Forest still considered the loss of hummingbirds a fair trade to escape the dreaded 'poison oak'.

Allura bit down on her lip. The irony of the Green Paladin would never not be amusing.

"And their defensive weapons?"

"None that I'm aware of, aside from being really fast and small."

"What color are they?"

"Oh all sorts." Pidge's shoulder shifted slightly in a restrained shrug.

"Green, blue, pink, gold, purple, it depends on the species. And lots of them have iridescent feathers, so they look especially pretty when they're flitting around in the sunlight."

Iridescent feathers? Allura imagined a garden filled with all her favorite Altean flowers, the day bright and the air filled with motes of living rainbow as small glimmering flecks darted from blossom to blossom, pausing now and then to hang in midair, tiny wings a blur.

"They sound beautiful..."

"Watching them is pretty incredible." Pidge agreed.

"I used to take holovids of them with Matt and try building drones that moved like them, wings and all. Then we'd test drive them by setting them loose inside the house and seeing how many Gunther could catch..."

"Of course you did." Allura quipped, muffling her laughter against Pidge shirt.

An imaginary Pidge appeared in Allura's garden, tools spread around her as fiddled with something small cupped in the palm of her hand.

On a whim she added herself to the picture.

Maybe stretched out on her back with her head in Pidge's lap, hands full of flowers as she plaited them into a matching set of bracelets and crowns. Now and then she might stop to offer a flower to one of the glittering hummingbirds as it passed by and Pidge would look up every time she did, absentmindedly adjusting her glasses and smiling as she got another close look at what she was trying to mimic.

Allura breathed in deeply. For a moment she almost thought she could taste the scent of juniberries and feel the mid-summer sunshine.

A faint pang rang through her chest.

She had just realized she was imagining more than Altean flowers- The garden itself was an exact copy of the ones that used to ring the Castle of the Lions, and the Pidge sitting in it with her was wearing the same tunic, flowing sash, and leggings Allura had grown up seeing.

Her seemingly harmless little daydream had turned into a wishful picture of what could have been.

Nuzzling closer to Pidge, Allura did her best to push the thought away.

And now Allura also noticed that Pidge had gone silent as well, right after mentioning the brother who was still missing after almost a year of searching.

"Your heartbeat reminds me of a sleeping klanmuirl." She said, wanting to keep the conversation going and distract them both.

"It does?"

Twisting her head awkwardly Pidge peered over her shoulder at Allura, wide eyed and curious.

Allura smirked. She'd nearly forgotten how Pidge had first come to hear of klanmuirls, and how the experience had almost put her off using the Castle's language program to learn Altean.

"Mm. My mother had one that would follow her everywhere, even onto the bridge of her ship whenever she was commanding Altea's fleets."

A fleet that had been the first loss when Zarkon turned traitor- The ache in Allura's chest gave another warning pang- But she wanted to remember this even if it hurt, and she wanted share it with Pidge.

Pidge herself seemed to pick up on this being important. Sheets rustled and the bed shifted as Pidge turned fully around, rolling over carefully in Allura's arms so as not to break her grip.

Allura gave her a moment to finish settling before going on.

"As commander of the fleet my mother was often off world and far away, helping with a crisis or supporting an alley." She explained, hearing a touch of pride light up her voice.

"She was away so much that when she was home I would try to spend as much time with her as I could, whether that meant joining extra sparring lessons or sitting in on the meetings with her generals."

Memory of the latter made Allura smile wryly. Strange how nostalgia could paint even the most mind-numbingly dulls hours of her life in a wistful light.

"When I was little the meetings invariably proved too tedious for me and I would end up falling asleep..." She had still dozed off as got older, but learned to do so with her eyes open and seemingly alert looking.

"...And sometimes when I woke up I would be curled up with my mother's klanmuirl, who wasn't any better at staying awake during those meetings than I was, and I would barely have time to get my bearings before it's slow breathing and heartbeat lulled me back to sleep."

Reaching up Allura ran a hand through Pidge's hair, softer and more feathery than the dense, bristly fur she was recalling.

Pidge quirked an eyebrow at her, one corner of her mouth lifting up as well.

"So my heartbeat makes you feel sleepy?"

Allura nodded.

"Very." She said, and somehow managed to keep a straight face as she closed her eyes and feigned a few snores.

Pidge snickered and shoved her shoulder lightly.

"On Earth it's considered rude to call your girlfriend a snooze-fest!"

A giggle slipped from Allura's lips as opened her eyes again.

"Well it isn't on Altea." She informed Pidge, leaning in to place a kiss on the bridge of Pidge's nose and cover the little dent her glasses always left behind. "In fact among adult Alteans, being relaxed enough around someone to fall asleep near them is a sign of deep trust and considered a great compliment."

Amber eyes rolled.

"I feel so complimented." Pidge's grin ruined the sarcasm she'd obviously been trying for.

"Also, I have a question while I try to picture this- Was your mom's klanmuirl the smallish, cute kind, or was it the giant monstrous three-eyed final boss version?"

Allura stared at her. What the quiznack was a final boss?

"It was fully grown, if that's what you mean."

"And your mom let you sleep with it." Pidge clarified. "'It' being the Altean analogue of a Earth grizzly bear."

Judging from her tone Allura guessed that most Earthing mothers would not in fact let their children sleep with a 'grizzly bear' or the Altean equivalent thereof.

"They're very docile once you bond with them." She assured Pidge.

"I even used to wrestle with mother's before I grew too big for it, and never got anything worse than a few scratches."

Shaking her head Pidge tucked herself under Allura's chin.

"Before you got too big for it." She snorted. "So you were a badass even as a kid."

"I suppose?"

Wrapping her arms more fully around Pidge, Allura stared into the empty air and frowned to herself, puzzled.

"... what kind of compliment is 'badass' meant to be?"

"It means impressive. Amazing."

The words gusted across Allura's collarbone and made it suddenly rather hard for her to focus on what Pidge was saying.

"Badass as in your mother sounds like she was a badass, bear-taming Queen Commander of Altea." She mumbled. "Badass like how you are, oh bear-wrestling, empire-overthrowing princess with a hummingbird heartbeat..."

With that Pidge drew a deep breath in let it out as a happy sigh. A moment later Allura felt her limbs going slack as she drifted off to sleep.

Smiling, Allura tilted her head and pressed her cheek to Pidge's bangs.

She could hear Pidge's heartbeat in the quiet- Strong, steady, and even slower now than before.

Listening to it filled Allura with memories of safety and warmth, filled her with daydreams of glittering wings and sun soaked gardens, images of what had been and could have been and, best of all, what was happening right now as her eyelids grew so heavy she couldn't keep them open anymore, until she couldn't even think of a reason to try.

Pidge's alien heartbeat was still strange. Still a little unnerving.

But it was wonderful all the same.


End file.
